The economy has grown for eight straight years, one of the longest stretches in history. Unemployment is down to 4.2%, its lowest since 2001. The United States has added jobs in 83 of the past 84 months.

"It's still the slowest recovery by a long way," says Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes North America, an insurance firm. "But we don't see anything to suggest that we would get a recession in the next year."

North and other economists expected a bigger toll from the hurricanes. Ports, schools and businesses were temporarily closed, and some employees couldn't get to work even if their businesses stayed open.

Hurricane recovery efforts are expected to provide a boost to economic growth toward the end of the year.

Nearly all corners of the U.S. economy contributed to growth in the third quarter. Exports, imports and business spending on long-term projects were all up. Consumer spending, which makes up the majority of economic activity, rose a healthy 3.3%.

North expects the U.S. economy to stay on track unless an unexpected shock happens, "like an incident with North Korea."